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How Well Do Hospitals Budget Operating Results? The Relationship Between Budget Variances And Operating Margin, Mark F. Slyter Jan 2016

How Well Do Hospitals Budget Operating Results? The Relationship Between Budget Variances And Operating Margin, Mark F. Slyter

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There is a near-universal assumption in both practice and literature that greater accuracy and management to the budget improves profitability (Libby & Lindsay, 2010; Umapathy, 1987). Prior to this study, this assumption has gone untested and we know little about the wisdom of such an assumption. The results of this study indicate greater accuracy in forecasting and/or tighter management to the budget, or favorably exceeding it, leads to improved profitability. More specifically, smaller unfavorable budget variances are associated with greater operating margins while greater favorable budget variances are associated with greater operating margins. A single standard deviation reduction in unfavorable …


Measuring Reproductive Norms And Stigma And Examining Their Roles In Unintended Pregnancy-Related Health Behavior Among Young Adult Women, Whitney Smith Jan 2016

Measuring Reproductive Norms And Stigma And Examining Their Roles In Unintended Pregnancy-Related Health Behavior Among Young Adult Women, Whitney Smith

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Substantial disparities are observed in rates of unintended pregnancy and the health consequences of unintended pregnancy in the United States, with these events and outcomes occurring more frequently among young adult women and women in the southern region. The contribution of social norms and stigma to these disparities is unclear. This dissertation is comprised of three manuscripts examining unintended pregnancy-related norms and stigma, and their health implications among young adult women aged 18-24 in Birmingham, Alabama. The aims of the dissertation are to (1) elucidate perceptions of norms and stigma regarding unintended pregnancy and pregnancy decisions (abortion, adoption, and parenting), …


What's Up, Dut? Help, Help I'M Being Derepressed; The Great Derepression Of Sapis Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Mobilization, Rosanne Lorin Lee Hill Jan 2016

What's Up, Dut? Help, Help I'M Being Derepressed; The Great Derepression Of Sapis Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Mobilization, Rosanne Lorin Lee Hill

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Staphylococcus aureus is known to cause disease in both human and animal populations. Many of the virulence factors important for S. aureus pathogenesis are found on mobile genetic elements known as S. aureus pathogenicity islands (SaPIs). SaPIs can transduce into surrounding cells, giving those cells the ability to produce virulence factors. Derepression allows SaPIs to be excised from S. aureus genome to initiate mobilization. Derepressors have been identified for multiple SaPIs, but it remains unknown if the same SaPI can be derepressed by multiple derepressors. It has been shown that SaPIbov1 can be derepressed by the type 1 dUTPase from …


A Comparison Of Soft Tissue Topographical Norms For The Local Ethnic People Of Zimbabwe And African American Norms Based On 3dmd Soft Tissue Photography, Elvin Bhaskar Jan 2016

A Comparison Of Soft Tissue Topographical Norms For The Local Ethnic People Of Zimbabwe And African American Norms Based On 3dmd Soft Tissue Photography, Elvin Bhaskar

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Introduction: The purpose of this study is to determine the soft tissue topographical norms for the local ethnic people of Zimbabwe and compare them with the African American norms based on 3dMD soft tissue photography. The rationale for the study is to evaluate how the soft tissue drape over the facial skeleton correlates with the different soft tissue analysis widely available today. This study seeks to establish an average base on which clinicians can treat people according to their cultural esthetic perceptions. Previous reported studies only evaluate small numbers of populations and it is well known that different races and …


Structure-Function Relationships In The Sec7 Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor Gbf1, Jay Manoj Bhatt Jan 2016

Structure-Function Relationships In The Sec7 Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor Gbf1, Jay Manoj Bhatt

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All eukaryotic cells contain a secretory pathway composed of membrane-bound compartments connected by vesicles that transport cargo from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) through the Golgi apparatus to various destination within and outside the cell. The Golgi Brefeldin A-resistant Factor 1 (GBF1) is required for protein traffic between ER and Golgi and within the Golgi. GBF1 belongs to a family of Guanine nucleotide Exchange Factors (GEFs) that stimulate the nucleotide exchange of GDP for GTP on small GTPases called ADP-ribosylation factors (ARFs). Once GTP-bound, ARFs become active and initiate a cascade of events that lead to vesicle formation. Thus, GBF1 is …


Regulation Of Vibrio Cholerae Biofilm Formation By H-Ns Repression And Anti-Repression, Julio Cesar Ayala-Figueredo Jan 2016

Regulation Of Vibrio Cholerae Biofilm Formation By H-Ns Repression And Anti-Repression, Julio Cesar Ayala-Figueredo

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The diarrheal disease cholera is caused by the Gram-negative and motile bacterium Vibrio cholerae of serogroups O1 and O139. V. cholerae can switch between planktonic (motile) and sessile (biofilm) lifestyles. Biofilms are sessile communities encased in a self-produced extracellular matrix mainly composed of exopolysaccharide, proteins and extracellular DNA. Biofilm formation enhances the capacity of V. cholerae to persist in environmental waters and increases its infectivity. The bacterial second messenger cyclic diguanylic acid (c-di-GMP) regulates the transition between motile and biofilm lifestyles in V. cholerae. At low cell density, two c-di-GMP receptors, the LuxR-type regulator VpsT and the NtrC-type regulator VpsR …


Fcrl5 Counter-Regulates Natural And T Cell-Independent Immunoglobulin Production By Innate-Like B Cells, Eugene John Becker Jan 2016

Fcrl5 Counter-Regulates Natural And T Cell-Independent Immunoglobulin Production By Innate-Like B Cells, Eugene John Becker

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At homeostasis and during the initial phases of primary responses to pathogens, humoral host defense is chiefly coordinated by specialized B cells known as splenic marginal zone (MZ) and body cavity-derived B-1 B cells. These front line immune mediators are termed “innate like” due to their ability to secrete broadly-reactive natural antibodies and respond rapidly to antigens in a T cell-independent manner. The production of natural antibodies possessing specificities for self-antigens allows clearance of cellular debris, maintenance of homeostasis and protection from infections that can also predispose the host to immunological disease. However, how the functions of these specialized cells …


Transcriptional Regulation Of Interleukin 10 In Cd4+ T Cells, Carson Edward Moseley Jan 2016

Transcriptional Regulation Of Interleukin 10 In Cd4+ T Cells, Carson Edward Moseley

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Autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases are a collection of disorders that are mediated by reaction of the adaptive immune system against self or commensal antigens. Altered transcription of genes involved in T cell activation and function is a key mediator of predisposition to numerous autoimmune disorders, including Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, we have an inadequate understanding of how the transcriptional circuits controlling these genes are dysregulated in disease. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is cytokine with potent anti-inflammatory activity that is critical for restraining immune-mediated pathology to self-tissues. Notably, patients with nullifying mutations in IL10 develop a severe IBD …


The Role Of Mammalian Tribbles Homolog 3 (Trb3) In Macrophage Biology; Evidence For Reciprocal Regulation Of Macrophage Function In Foam Cell Formation, Dennis Steverson Jan 2016

The Role Of Mammalian Tribbles Homolog 3 (Trb3) In Macrophage Biology; Evidence For Reciprocal Regulation Of Macrophage Function In Foam Cell Formation, Dennis Steverson

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Atherosclerosis is disease characterized by dysregulated lipid metabolism and chronic inflammation. Macrophages are critical to the progression of the disease and are involved in the pathophysiology at all stages of the disease. In the early stages, macrophages are responsible for fatty streak formation by becoming foam cells through lipid uptake. In the later stages, macrophages contribute to the degradation of the fibrous cap and are largely responsible for chronic inflammation in atherosclerotic plaques. Tribbles homolog 3 (TRB3) is a pseudokinase that inhibits Akt activation by blocking its phosphorylation site. TRB3 is expressed on numerous cell types in the body (pancreatic …


Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 And Heterochromatin Protein 1 Beta Regulate Neural And Neural Crest Development, Chih-Liang Tien Jan 2016

Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 And Heterochromatin Protein 1 Beta Regulate Neural And Neural Crest Development, Chih-Liang Tien

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Epigenetic factors control gene expression via modulating chromatin conformation. Current studies on epigenetics mainly focus on biochemical mechanisms or functions of epigenetic factors in cancer or neurobiology. The underlying mechanism for epigenetic regulation in early embryonic development, particularly neural and neural crest development, is not well understood. In this thesis, the model organism, Xenopus laevis, is used to study epigenetic factors – polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) and heterochromatin protein 1 beta (HP1β) in neural and neural crest development. In chapter one, the processes of neural and neural crest development are described, and the concepts of epigenetic mechanisms, such as …


Cell Signaling Pathways As Targets For Precision Medicine In Head And Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Alice Weaver Jan 2016

Cell Signaling Pathways As Targets For Precision Medicine In Head And Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Alice Weaver

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Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a heterogeneous disease with high rates of recurrence and mortality. Unlike other cancer types, genome sequencing studies have failed to produce clinically actionable targets to improve HNSCC management. Therefore, alternative methods are needed to study the molecular mechanisms responsible for disease progression and response to therapy. The focus of this research was to determine how dysregulation of cell signaling pathways affects outcomes in HNSCC. In HPV-positive HNSCCs, we hypothesized that HPV induces dysregulation of the DNA damage response which mediates differences in therapeutic sensitivity and survival. We identified a defect in DNA …


Correlating High Reliability Organization Practices With Preventable Harms Across Children’S Hospitals Participating In The Children’S Hospitals’ Solutions For Patient Safety Collaborative, Kelly H. Randall Jan 2016

Correlating High Reliability Organization Practices With Preventable Harms Across Children’S Hospitals Participating In The Children’S Hospitals’ Solutions For Patient Safety Collaborative, Kelly H. Randall

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Background: Despite significant effort, focus, and resources dedicated to reducing patient safety risk, the healthcare system continues to have high error rates. Approaches and strategies implemented to decrease human error have been marginally successful in achieving sustainable reduction in patient harm. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between high reliability and patient safety outcomes by testing the following hypotheses: Organizations exhibiting more advanced high reliability practice will have fewer hospital acquired conditions (as defined by the Serious Harm Event Index (SHE) than organizations exhibiting less advanced high reliability practices; and organizations exhibiting more advanced high …


Rural Hos[Ital Closure In Alabama - Post Aca, Dennis Otto Mccay Jan 2016

Rural Hos[Ital Closure In Alabama - Post Aca, Dennis Otto Mccay

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RURAL HOSPITAL CLOSURES IN ALABAMA: POST ACA DENNIS O. MCCAY HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION ABSTRACT Rural hospitals differ from their urban counterparts with regard to two main areas. First, rural hospital patients are usually older, of lower income, and less healthy than those in urban areas. Second, their facilities tend to be smaller, older, and more prone to staff shortages than those in an urban environment. Rural hospitals have been closing at higher rates than their urban counterparts for a number of years, but more so since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The objective of this research …


Microglia Orchestrate The Inflammatory Response To Alpha-Synuclein In Parkinson Disease Models, Aaron Thome Jan 2016

Microglia Orchestrate The Inflammatory Response To Alpha-Synuclein In Parkinson Disease Models, Aaron Thome

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Parkinson disease (PD) is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder characterized by a progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and widespread aggregates of the protein alpha-synuclein (α-syn). Increasing evidence points to inflammation as a chief mediator of PD with many of the inflammatory manifestations of human PD cases recapitulated in animal models of PD. We began by examining the inflammatory potential of α-syn fibrils, a newly characterized α-syn conformation that is neurotoxic and prion-like in its endogenous α-syn recruitment and cellular transmission. Our studies provide evidence that the α-syn fibrils evoke a pro-inflammatory response …


The Experience Of The Expectant Mother Follwing A Diagnosis Of A Fetal Anomaly, Janet Adams Tucker Jan 2016

The Experience Of The Expectant Mother Follwing A Diagnosis Of A Fetal Anomaly, Janet Adams Tucker

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THE EXPERIENCE OF THE EXPECTANT MOTHER FOLLWING A DIAGNOSIS OF A FETAL ANOMALY JANET ADAMS TUCKER Introduction: The experience of pregnancy complicated by a fetal anomaly diagnosis is comprised of many concepts: uncertainty, information needs, stress and anxiety, waiting, decision-making dilemmas, isolation, fragmented health care, multiple losses and grief, foreknowledge, acceptance and adaptation. There is great variance in what is understood about each concept. The purpose of this study was to explore uncertainty and waiting among expectant mothers from the time period of a prenatal diagnosis of a fetal anomaly through the post-partum period. Methods: A descriptive phenomenological approach was …


The Effect Of Proinflammatory Cytokines On Thioredoxin-Interacting Protein In Pancreatic Beta-Cells, Kyunghee Hong Jan 2016

The Effect Of Proinflammatory Cytokines On Thioredoxin-Interacting Protein In Pancreatic Beta-Cells, Kyunghee Hong

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Pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as Interleukin (IL)-1β, Tumor necrosis factors (TNF) α, and Interferon (IFN)γ, have been implicated as critical mediators of β-cell destruction in diabetes. In addition, although a combination of these three cytokines has been used to mimic the inflammatory conditions of type 1 diabetes in vitro, the mechanisms underlying the effect are not fully understood. Previously, we discovered Thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) as a key regulator of glucotoxicity-induced β-cell apoptosis and β-cell dysfunction, while deletion of TXNIP prevented type 1 (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, the effects of proinflammatory cytokines on the regulation of TXNIP have not …


The Matricellular Protein Ccn1 Potentiates Fibrogenic Responses To Lung Injury, Ashish Kurundkar Jan 2016

The Matricellular Protein Ccn1 Potentiates Fibrogenic Responses To Lung Injury, Ashish Kurundkar

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Normal wound healing is a well-coordinated reparative response to injury aimed at restoring the normal tissue function. The dynamic interactions between cells and ex-tracellular matrix (ECM) regulate and dictate the fate of tissue repair process. Fibrosis is a dysregulated wound healing with excessive deposition of ECM and loss of tissue func-tion. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic progressive fibrotic disease of lung with no cure. Matricellular proteins are non-structural matrix proteins which regulates the cellular functions by directly binding to cell surface integrins and/or indirectly modulating growth factor signaling. Matricellular proteins are emerging as critical mediators of tissue injury …


The Relationship Between Hospital Interdepartmental Transfers And Patient Experience, Betty O. Mortensen Jan 2016

The Relationship Between Hospital Interdepartmental Transfers And Patient Experience, Betty O. Mortensen

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This study examined the potential relationship between interdepartmental transfers and perceptions of adult patients who were admitted and discharged from a 300-bed, not-for-profit community tertiary hospital in the Midwest. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey is a publically reported comparative data tool measuring hospital patient experiences. As consumers, patients are more informed about their own health and are challenging the quality and service of care provided by hospitals. The value-based purchasing reimbursement model has become a new challenge for hospitals. Historically, hospitals were reimbursed through a volume driven model. Comparatively, the value-based model focuses on …


High-Intensity Interval Training With Energy Restriction Preserves Lean Tissue And Improves Glucose Tolerance In Obesity, Rachel Ann Harley Jan 2016

High-Intensity Interval Training With Energy Restriction Preserves Lean Tissue And Improves Glucose Tolerance In Obesity, Rachel Ann Harley

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Calorie restriction (CR) reduces body weight (BW) and adiposity, but is often less than expected due to hypometabolism produced by reductions in lean body mass (LBM). A comparable energy deficit created by combining CR and exercise energy expenditure (EE) has been shown to attenuate the reduction in EE produced by CR. Continuous moderate-intensity training (MIT) is commonly used to sustain energy balance or expedite weight loss, but high-intensity interval training (HIIT) may produce greater results. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if HIIT preserves LBM and improves energy metabolism to a greater extent than MIT in the presence …


The Role Of Hydrogen Peroxide In The Modulation Of Capsule Biosynthesis In Streptococcus Pneumoniae Serotype 2, Jocelyn Renee Hauser Jan 2016

The Role Of Hydrogen Peroxide In The Modulation Of Capsule Biosynthesis In Streptococcus Pneumoniae Serotype 2, Jocelyn Renee Hauser

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Streptococcus pneumoniae is a gram-positive bacterial pathogen that causes diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, bacteremia and middle ear infections. The major virulence factor of S. pneumoniae is its polysaccharide capsule. The capsule enables the organism to evade host defenses by providing protection against complement-mediated opsonophagocytosis in systemic sites and by allowing the organism to successfully colonize the nasopharynx. The nasopharynx is the natural reservoir of S. pneumoniae. In the nasopharynx, S. pneumoniae is in a high oxygen (O2) environment, however when it has the opportunity to bypass host defenses and invade systemic sites, it reaches environments with low O2. Capsule …


Targeting The Tumor-Promoting Microenvironment With Inhibitors Of Pro-Hgf Activation, Benjamin Yaw Owusu Jan 2016

Targeting The Tumor-Promoting Microenvironment With Inhibitors Of Pro-Hgf Activation, Benjamin Yaw Owusu

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The tumor microenvironment plays a key role in tumor progression and therapeutic resistance. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), commonly expressed by cancer-associated fibroblasts, mediates signaling via its receptor, MET, and promotes survival, proliferation, migration and invasion of cancer cells. In addition, HGF dependence has emerged as a hallmark of therapeutic resistance. HGF is secreted as an inactive precursor, pro-HGF, which requires proteolytic cleavage and processing to form the mature, active HGF. This is the rate-limiting step in the HGF/MET signaling pathway and it is achieved by one of the serine proteases, matriptase, hepsin and HGF activator (HGFA). At Southern Research, we …


A Study Of The Relationship Between Nasion Perpendicular And The True Vertical Line, Jeffrey Shelley Jan 2016

A Study Of The Relationship Between Nasion Perpendicular And The True Vertical Line, Jeffrey Shelley

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A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NASION PERPENDICULAR AND THE TRUE VERTICAL LINE JEFFREY ALBERT SHELLEY JR. DEPARTMENT OF ORTHODONTICS ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between Nasion perpendicular and the true vertical line between patient groups using cephalometric analysis. Materials and Methods: Ninety-six adolescent patients comprised the sample for this study. Subjects were between 10 and 18 years old, with no major craniofacial deformity. Three groups of patients were divided in to three groups (Class I, Class II and Class III) based on their skeletal antero-posterior relationship. Pre-treatment lateral cephalometric radiographs were taken with …


The Function Of Prmt1 In Normal And Abnormal Megakaryopoiesis, Hairui Su Jan 2016

The Function Of Prmt1 In Normal And Abnormal Megakaryopoiesis, Hairui Su

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Protein arginine methylation is a common type of post-translational modifications. Protein arginine methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) is the predominant PRMT that is involved in diverse physiological and pathological processes in mammalian cells. Dysregulation of PRMT1 is often positively correlated with cancer development, yet many aspects of PRMT1’s role in cancer, especially in acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) remain unclear. We identified two PRMT1-methylated substrates and how they impact normal and abnormal megakaryopoiesis. In this dissertation, we demonstrate that dual-specificity protein phosphatase 4 (DUSP4) and RNA binding motif protein 15 (RBM15), two crucial factors for megakaryocytic (MK) differentiation, are methylated by PRMT1 and …


Cultural Competence Practices Implemented In Hospitals And Health Systems By Minority Executives On The Top Management Team, John H. Cunningham Jan 2016

Cultural Competence Practices Implemented In Hospitals And Health Systems By Minority Executives On The Top Management Team, John H. Cunningham

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The study examined whether hospital implementation of cultural competence practices was influenced by the racial/ethnic composition of top management. With one-third of the U.S. population identifying with a racial or ethnic group other than non-Hispanic White, and that population continuing to grow increasingly diverse, racial and ethnic minorities are increasingly accessing health care services. Yet they represent less than 1% of the top management teams (TMT) of health care organizations. The study sought to determine the extent to which health care organizations with TMTs that are representative of the racial and ethnic compositions of the communities in which they serve …


Performance Of Ordinary Least Squares And Heteroskedasticity Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimators In Heteroskedastic Analysis Of Covariance Models, Erica Lynn Dawson Jan 2016

Performance Of Ordinary Least Squares And Heteroskedasticity Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimators In Heteroskedastic Analysis Of Covariance Models, Erica Lynn Dawson

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Ordinary Least Squares Optimization is one of the most widely used methods in statistical analysis to estimate the parameters of a general linear model. Yet, when the assumption of homoskedastic errors is violated, the statistical model is incorrectly specified and alteration of both Type I and Type II error rates occurs. We examine different heteroskedasticity consistent covariance matrix estimators (HCCM) under various heteroskedastic analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) models with orthogonal predictors, and find that under the test of group differences, MacKinnon and White’s HC2 and Davidson and MacKinnon’s HC3 perform reasonably well in terms of Type I error control; and …


The Role Of Glutamate In Immune Cell Infiltration And Excitotoxic Mechanisms In Autoimmune Demyelination, Kirsten Scarlett Evonuk Jan 2016

The Role Of Glutamate In Immune Cell Infiltration And Excitotoxic Mechanisms In Autoimmune Demyelination, Kirsten Scarlett Evonuk

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Multiple sclerosis is the most common neurological disorder in young adults. Current treatments modulate the immune system, but no treatments prevent central nervous system damage. Inflammation occurs even during disease remission, contributing to ongoing damage and resulting in disease progression. The lack of neuroprotective treatments despite continued inflammatory onslaught in the central nervous system indicates the need for therapeutic discovery in this area. One potential therapeutic target is glutamate, whose dysregulation in multiple sclerosis has been implicated in excitotoxic cellular death. Herein we describe the roles of glutamate in multiple sclerosis and explore the blockade of a source of excitotoxic …


Epigenetic Dysregulation In Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia, David Anthony Figge Jan 2016

Epigenetic Dysregulation In Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia, David Anthony Figge

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Levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) is a persistent behavioral sensitization that develops after repeated levodopa (L-DOPA) exposure in Parkinson disease (PD) patients. LID is characterized by a “priming effect”, whereby initial administrations of L-DOPA trigger a sensitized biochemical and transcriptional response upon subsequent administrations of L-DOPA. In neurons, transcriptional regulation through dynamic changes to epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation and histone acetylation, have been shown pivotal to many long-term behavioral modifications; however, their role in LID has been minimally explored. Using a rodent model, we show LID development leads to the aberrant expression of DNA demethylating enzymes and locus-specific changes to DNA …


Novel Biomarkers For Parkinson Disease, Kyle Bradley Fraser Jan 2016

Novel Biomarkers For Parkinson Disease, Kyle Bradley Fraser

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Parkinson disease (PD) is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder for which no treatments exist capable of slowing progression of the disease. One obstacle slowing the development of novel therapies is the lack of molecular biomarkers for PD prognosis, tracking of disease progression, and assessing efficacious target engagement of compounds that do reach clinical trials. Missense mutations in LRRK2 account for between 1-5% of late onset PD and lead to increases in LRRK2 kinase activity and LRRK2 autophosphorylation. This thesis characterizes the secretion of LRRK2 into extracellularly secreted microvesicles called exosomes. We find that kinase-active LRRK2 is secreted within exosomes …


Capacity Of The 3m True Definition Scanner To Make Repeatable Impressions Depending On Placement Of Margins In Relation To Gingival Height., Ricardo Jose Galindo Ramirez Jan 2016

Capacity Of The 3m True Definition Scanner To Make Repeatable Impressions Depending On Placement Of Margins In Relation To Gingival Height., Ricardo Jose Galindo Ramirez

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Purpose: To determine the precision and accuracy of the True Definition Scanner (3M) (TDS) to capture margins at different gingival heights. Materials and Methods: A typodont with soft gingiva and removable indexed Ivorine® teeth was used. Tooth #19 was prepared to fit an all-ceramic crown with a chamfer margin. Spacers placed beneath the prepared tooth elevated #19 in the typodont and controlled the tooth margin height relative to the gingival margin. The TDS was used as an intraoral scanner. A total of 50 scans were made with 5 groups of 10 scans each. In Group 1 (control) the prepared tooth …


Copper Chaperone In Streptococcus Mutans Biofilm Formation And Dispersion Of Biofilms By Small Molecules, Sandra Stephanie Garcia Jan 2016

Copper Chaperone In Streptococcus Mutans Biofilm Formation And Dispersion Of Biofilms By Small Molecules, Sandra Stephanie Garcia

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Dental caries, commonly known as tooth decay, is characterized by the destruction of the tooth’s hydroxyapatite, the primary mineral of enamel. Tooth decay is caused by the combination of poor salivary flow, frequent dietary sugar intake, poor dental hygiene, and the prevalence of cariogenic bacteria. Exposure to sucrose promotes Streptococcus mutans to form a cariogenic biofilm, which is the major risk factor for dental caries. Currently there are no anticaries therapies that selectively target S. mutans biofilms. In this study, we identified small molecule 3F1 which was capable of selectively dispersing S. mutans biofilms and utilized it to determine whether …